The Return of Phineas Gage: Clues About the Brain from the Skull of a Famous Patient
- 20 May 1994
- journal article
- review article
- Published by American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) in Science
- Vol. 264 (5162), 1102-1105
- https://doi.org/10.1126/science.8178168
Abstract
When the landmark patient Phineas Gage died in 1861, no autopsy was performed, but his skull was later recovered. The brain lesion that caused the profound personality changes for which his case became famous has been presumed to have involved the left frontal region, but questions have been raised about the involvement of other regions and about the exact placement of the lesion within the vast frontal territory. Measurements from Gage's skull and modern neuroimaging techniques were used to reconstitute the accident and determine the probable location of the lesion. The damage involved both left and right prefrontal cortices in a pattern that, as confirmed by Gage's modern counterparts, causes a defect in rational decision making and the processing of emotion.Keywords
This publication has 10 references indexed in Scilit:
- Insensitivity to future consequences following damage to human prefrontal cortexCognition, 1994
- Three-dimensional In Vivo Mapping of Brain Lesions in HumansArchives of Neurology, 1992
- Preserved access and processing of social knowledge in a patient with acquired sociopathy due to ventromedial frontal damageNeuropsychologia, 1991
- The Wisconsin Card Sorting Test: Theoretical Analysis and Modeling in a Neuronal NetworkCerebral Cortex, 1991
- The Attention System of the Human BrainAnnual Review of Neuroscience, 1990
- Architecture and intrinsic connections of the prefrontal cortex in the rhesus monkeyJournal of Comparative Neurology, 1989
- A wonderful journey through skull and brains: The travels of Mr. Gage's tamping ironBrain and Cognition, 1986
- Severe disturbance of higher cognition after bilateral frontal lobe ablationNeurology, 1985
- Deficits on subject-ordered tasks after frontal- and temporal-lobe lesions in manNeuropsychologia, 1982
- The Goulstonian Lectures on the Localisation of Cerebral DiseaseBMJ, 1878